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Joceline Stewart
Title: Lady (I always strive to be a lady) Universe: Aether Earth/Aether Moon File Name: Joceline Stewart Aliases: None known, though there's someone called "Zahra Bella" who looks suspiciously like her. Citizenship: Lunar Imperium. RFE Legal Status: Perfectly above-board, darlings, the good Ambassador would never stand for less. Place of Birth: England, sometime in the 1850s. Known Relatives: None on file Marital Status: Married, to the honorable Ambassador of the Lunar Imperium Base of Operations: Philadelphia, Mumbai Known Allies: Margaret Pye (saved her life), Inquistor Jasper (shares her distaste of Tobias) Major Enemies: Tobias, who she finds impertinent and vulgar; Booth probably also does not think of her kindly right now. Education: Private tutors and public university Height: 5'4' Weight: A true lady never tells. Eyes: A changeable blue-green Hair: Red Distinguishing Features: None Powers: None, unless snappy dress sense and an ability to accessorize, sustained shimmies, and the ability to balance a sword on one's head count. Also now this Dreamgate thing. Source of Powers: Her indomitable will, an encounter with the Red. Abilities: Writing, cooking of all kinds, Middle Eastern dance, textile arts, historical research, music (guitar playing, singing, frame drumming, zill playing) Paraphernalia: Most of it varies, but there's always a vial or bottle of "potion" from BPAL, the finest perfumers in the multiverse. And a parasol, of course. For dance, a collection of props including a growing number of swords. Fighting Style – Dirty and unpredictable. Just ask Booth. Primary Specialty- Writing, dance. Secondary Specialty- Music Caste - Metier First Appearance - 2013 Lady Joceline Stewart is a very new citizen to the Empire, but she's already done a lot in a very short amount of time. After being given a piece of the Will of the People by the Mad Emperor Peanut, she used it restore the interdimensional Nexus Gate in the Lunar Imperium, located on Aether Earth's Moon. Currently, she would just like to get a decent night's sleep without going through the Dreamtime gate that's been in her head since Booth almost reduced her mind to jelly. The restoration of the Lunar Nexus and the Moon Joceline comes from Aether Earth, which is very similar to "regular" Earth in culture, history, etc. There are two major differences: the cradle of thin, but breathable, aether that wraps Aether Earth and its Moon; and the fact that there is life on this Moon, which was written about in the New York Sun in 1835. "Regular" Earth considers this to be a hoax, but on Aether Earth, this was actually the truth, and in addition, the Moon actually held an intelligent civilization on the far side of the Moon. The Lunar Imperium soon contacted the governments of Aether Earth, and alliances were made. The advanced technologies of the Imperium helped the North win the Civil War in record time, as well as spared Lincoln from an assassination attempt. Lincoln was still president in the 1880s when the first aether rockets blasted off from the Earth to the Moon. Though this made trade and travel possible, Lunarian scientists wanted to recreate the teleportation abilities possessed by some Lunarians (including Joceline's husband, Ambassador Zophiel), and proposed the Nexus Gate. When the gate was completed and opened in the 1890s, however, it was a disaster. The scientists had unknowingly tapped into the power of the Red, and created a highly unstable gate which actually "switched" Aether Moon with a Moon from an alternate timeline/dimension. The Moon of man bats, green fields, and white marble cities was transformed in an instant to an airless, aetherless ball of rock and crystal-domed cities. Those on the Moon furthest away from the Nexus, and those on the Earth believed the Moon was "always" like this. Joceline, as one of the few Earth attendees present at the opening of the Nexus, knew better. In an instant, Moon travel had become unpredictable and dangerous, and Zophiel's teleportation through the Nexus with his wife to return her to Earth destabilized it even further. Fortunately, the opening of the Nexus had attracted the attention of the RFE, whose scientists stepped forward to offer their assistance. Though the Nexus was stabllized enough to allow somewhat reliable travel between the Red Fork and the Imperium, the Moon remained as it had been transformed. Joceline attended a gathering of Red Fork citizens with Zophiel, where he was bestowed a citizen's armband by Peanut. Peanut gave her the Will of the People, with the direction of, "Keep!" After learning that the piece of the Will could do just about anything (except discourage Tobias), Joceline decided to use it to assist the Imperium scientists restore the Nexus and reverse the Moon's transformation. It was in the Emperor's interest that the Nexus be restored, because it created a weak point in the Red that could be taken advantage of by the Dull and bring them straight at New Byzantium. The Dull did indeed try to take over the Nexus, even reviving Confederate spy Belle Boyd as its agent. Boyd and the Dull were defeated by Joceline, Margaret Pye (who acted as Joceline's traveling companion on Booth's direction), and Joceline's Gurkha bodyguard, Mr. Rai. The Will remains part of the machinery of the Nexus Gate, as long as Joceline wants it to be there. In the initial testing of the power of the Will - which had become strongly linked to Joceline's mind - and its effect on the Nexus, Booth took the opportunity to reach through the blockage the Dull had placed on the gate and directly contact Joceline, with warnings of how he would destroy the Moon if the Nexus were not restored and the Dull defeated. The glimpse of the Emperor's mind, powered by the Red, nearly destroyed her, but somehow, she survived, seemingly intact and sane. However, all was not as it seemed. The Dreamgate Direct contact with the Red and the Will of the People created a permanent "window" in Joceline's head that can be seemingly accessed by any of the Emperors through her dreams. When "summoned" Joceline seems to astrally travel to a Dreamtime version of wherever the Emperors are. It is at least partly grounded in the physical world, however, and things that happen there can have some effects on Joceline's actual body; small objects can also travel back with her. Joceline is not very happy about this, and is dreading future encounters with less beneficent Emperors. If she could find a way to remove this "ability," she would. Joceline was able to find a way to bring herself back to the physical world and shut the gate in her head during an encounter with the Beast, Hyde. Now she is seeking a way to gain more full control over the Dreamgate, to keep any of the Emperors out, and make sure it does not open if she is asleep or incapacitated. This may not be possible, but she is going to try anyway, working with Dr. Virgilius Phocas of Imperial Laboratory No. 72 of New Byzantium. As Joceline has gained more control over the Dreamgate and her ability to travel in the Emperors' realms, her physicality in these realms has increased. Now injuries done to her there in the Dreamtime are fully evident in the "real" world. Tobias' ability to permanently maim her has perturbed her. Hyde could have done even worse damage if she had not gone unconscious and her subconscious failsafe mecahnism had not tripped. Attitudes about the Emperors Joceline has had encounters with all five of the Emperors, both in the physical world and the Dreamtime. Rookfinger - Finds him relatively benevolent, and harbors no ill will against him. Booth '''- While she admires the relentless steadfastness of his fight against the Dull, his willingness to destroy anyone or anything in the path of his objectives is distasteful to her. His lack of empathy and the way he forced the Red into her mind have added to her dislike of him. She will not willingly serve him, and will quite happily hit him or knee him in the groin again in a future encounter if she can (though that opportunity may never come, as Booth will not let his guard down around her again). '''Tobias - Finds him disagreeable and creepy. His advances and boastfulness of his "abilities" in their initial meeting have made her very unfavorably disposed towards him. She will try to avoid any future encounters with him if possible, but will openly display her contempt of him if she cannot politely leave the room during an audience. She is baffled about why so many adore Tobias. Her hatred of him has grown since he demanded, and took, a bone from a finger (in a terrifyingly twisted surgery) as the price for information she had lifted from his library without permission. 'Peanut '- She finds him infinitely pitiable and also very frightening. The madness that subsumes him makes him unpredictable, and she is cautious around him. He did give her a piece of the Will, for whatever reason, and that helped save her adopted home. 'Beast '- She will never willingly be in the same room as him, even if he is constrained, and has been traumatized by her encounter. He will always provoke true, deep terror. Her greatest fear at present is that Hyde may try again to summon her, and she wants to shore up the Dreamgate against him most of all, as well as learn how to shield her travels in the Dreamtime so he won't summon her as she travels. Category:Citizens